LEWISTON – Normand C. (Boogie) Bourgoin, 61, a resident of Ste. Marguerite d’Youville Pavilion, passed away on Thursday, Nov. 3, after a long illness.
The son of Jean Leon and Yvonne Caron Bourgoin, he was born on Sept. 6, 1944, in Lewiston. A 1962 graduate of St. Dominic’s High School, he later attended the University of Maine in Bangor, where he studied computer programming.
Bourgoin married Therese Rossignol in 1963, and they raised six children. He then married Marguerite Gagnon Samson in 1982 and they raised her daughter.
He was an accomplished restaurant cook, having worked for many years at Happy Jack’s Restaurant, Graziano’s Casa Mia, and later owning Boogie’s Happy Jack Restaurant. He was also instrumental in preparing banquets for the Lewiston Lodge of Elks 371, also for which he held the position of secretary for 14 years.
Bourgoin was a well-known figure in Lewiston youth sports, having been the founder and first president of the South Lewiston Little League. For many years, he was the secretary and scheduler for the Lewiston Auburn Youth Hockey League and was the director for the Lions Tournament. He did the play-by-plays for the tourney (along with his best friend, George Rouleau) which was televised by cable TV.
He also became the American Hockey Association of the United States coaching director for the state of Maine and traveled to various cities to direct coaches on the AHAUS coaching philosophy. He opened the Central Maine Pro Shop at the Central Maine Civic Center, providing skate sharpening and hockey equipment; and later opened a second shop on Sabattus Street. He also started the Eastern Maine Pro Shop, which was located in the Sockalexis ice hockey arena on the Penobscot Reservation’s Indian Island.
While going to school in Bangor, Bourgoin became the president of the Penobscot Valley Hockey Association. He was instrumental in providing information to parents of hockey players to approach schools in launching hockey programs. As a result, Bangor and Orono area schools followed suit. Bourgoin later rekindled senior hockey by forming the L/A Rapids hockey team which provided continued rivalry with the Berlin Maroons. As of late, he was still very interested in local hockey by having the new title of “fan” for the Maineiacs.
He is survived by his wife, Marguerite, of Lewiston; six children, Gregory (Debra) Bourgoin of Lewiston, Julie (Larry) Pinkham of Steuben, Laurie (Roderick) Oringer of Weymouth, Mass., Jamey (Caryn Demers) Bourgoin of Auburn, Aimee Bourgoin of Leominster, Mass., and Denny (Kristen Cloutier) Bourgoin of Lewiston; a step-daughter, Kathryn (John) Cortes of Lewiston; eight grandchildren, Nichole Bourgoin, Monica Stanley, Jordan Bourgoin, Robert Stanley III, Jared Bourgoin, Roderick “RJ” Oringer Jr., Austin Oringer, Monique Morin; two step-grandchildren, Tia Cortes and Tanner Cortes; two brothers, Leonard “Joe” (Pauline) Bourgoin of Sabattus, and O’Neil (Marilyn) of Jay; and one sister, Therese (Richard) Perron of Lewiston.
He was predeceased by his father in 1958; his mother in 2003; and a sister, Laurianne, in 1933.
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